UCPM 2.0: potentials and limitations

Abstract

In the recent period, the European Union has faced increasingly intense and complex challenges: security (the Russia–Ukraine war), health (the COVID 19 pandemic), humanitarian (the Israel–Gaza war), climate and environmental crises (wildfires and floods of 2024) all require continuous readiness, attention, and intervention. In relation to natural disasters, civil protection and humanitarian assistance, a procedure based on mutual and joint assistance (the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, UCPM) has been successfully established, and therefore, in response to newly emerging events that require a more comprehensive and integrated approach, the European Commission has presented a proposal [1] to the Member States of the European Union that seeks to extend this well functioning method to the effective management of situations similar to those mentioned above. Although the proposal is unlikely to be adopted in its current form, it contains many ideas that will potentially shape strategic thinking on disaster management in the coming years.